Disturbia (15)

THIS is a slickly engineered, paranoia thriller sparked by the febrile imagination of an electronically-tagged, housebound teenager. Spying on the locals to pass the time, Kale entertains the outlandish notion that the loner across the street is a serial killer and plants seeds of suspicion in the minds of his friends.

THIS is a slickly engineered, paranoia thriller sparked by the febrile imagination of an electronically-tagged, housebound teenager, Kale (LaBeouf).

Spying on the locals to pass the time, Kale entertains the outlandish notion that the loner across the street, Mr Turner (Morse), is a serial killer.

The youngster plants seeds of suspicion in the minds of sexy neighbour Ashley (Roemer) and goofy best friend Ronnie (Yoo), who train binoculars and a video camera on the Turner residence.

Once Turner senses he is under surveillance, he confronts Ashley and issues a chilling warning: "You're not the only one that's watching. Feel free to pass that along."

Disturbia disorients us with a bravura opening set piece and director DJ Caruso sustains the tension through the myriad twists.

Christopher Landon and Carl Ellsworth's screenplay is well-oiled with all the usual double-bluffs and red herrings, lending a 21st century gloss to a central premise borrowed from Hitchcock's Rear Window.

We see most of the film through LaBeouf's eyes and he ably conveys his troublemaker's mounting frustration that no one in authority will listen to him.